


6 Bar

by Ballades



Series: Bell's Theorem [2]
Category: Original Work
Genre: Entanglement, F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-20
Updated: 2017-04-20
Packaged: 2018-10-21 09:13:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,119
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10682259
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ballades/pseuds/Ballades
Summary: Jen, Emily, and a meet-cute of fantastic awkwardness.





	6 Bar

She fell in love the moment she saw her.

She was so _sparkly._ Charisma, others called it, and Jen had that in spades. Emily only remembered the sparkling, her amazement at how someone could be so effervescent. Lord help her, she was in love even if she didn’t realize it yet, helplessly attracted to the gleam in Jen’s deep brown eyes, the rounded apples of her cheeks on a heart of a face, the brightness of her smile with teeth just crooked enough for Emily to wonder what it would be like to kiss her.

Of course that wasn’t going to happen. Emily had too much on her plate. Classes, research, and conferences kept her busy, with only enough time to glance repeatedly at the tall Asian girl who always sat in the same spot in the library, surrounded by visual panels, her lower lip jutting out at an angle as she scribbled on a notebook.

A notebook, of all things. Emily thought that was what fascinated her the most. The girl in the library could have dictated to her imPlant or streamed thoughts to a recording app, but here she was physically writing with a pen, in cursive, on a notebook.

“Where do you get those?” Emily blurted out one day, having summoned up enough courage to approach.

“Get what?” Jen replied, not looking up.

“Where did you get the pen and notebook?”

“Ordered them online. There are stores…” She broke off momentarily to finish her thought, the tip of her pen gliding blue and wavelike over the paper. “...where you can special order these things. Do you write by hand?”

“No,” Emily replied. “Most people don’t, but I see you doing it all the time, and…” Emily paused, heat rising in her cheeks. “Um, I’m not trying to say that I look at you a lot -”

Well, she did, she did look at Jen a lot. Emily was at the library a lot. So was Jen. Every time Jen was there Emily would look at her. Therefore, as logic dictated, there was a lot of looking.

“- I’m really sorry that sounded weird, I do look, but not at you, not because you’re ugly because you aren’t. I look at your pen.” 

A pause as Emily desperately tried to process just how much of a mess she’d just made. “And your notebook.”

Jen responded with laughter, and Emily thought it a strange coincidence that she would experience heart palpitations at that exact moment. She didn’t believe in coincidences, only probability and randomness. “It’s okay, I understand what you mean. I’m not the only one who writes by hand here, but maybe you just see me more.” Jen put her pen down and extended a hand. “My name’s Jenna, but call me Jen. I’ve seen you around too.”

“I’m Emily.” Emily took Jen’s hand and shook it.

“Oh wow, a proper handshake!” Jen smiled, and Emily’s cheeks grew hotter.

“I um…” Emily cleared her throat, unused to this level of nervousness. Facing down a whole lecture hall of scientists was easy compared to this. “I shake a lot of hands.”

“Really? Why’s that?”

“I meet a lot of people at conferences." That sounded fine and normal. Well done. 

“Emily, right? What do you do that has you going to conferences?”

“I’m a quantum physicist.” That too came out sounding fine. Perhaps the anxiety was a passing phase. 

Jen’s impressed look, complete with raised eyebrows and pursed mouth - she had a very full bottom lip - let Emily know in no uncertain terms that it wasn’t a phase, nor would it be passing. “Chapeau to you, Emily.”

“C’est rien,” she responded automatically. And then, because it was polite, and her mother had made it a point to teach Emily about courtesies, she asked, “What about you? What do you do?”

“As of right now?” Jen’s mouth quirked as she lifted a hand and spun one of the panels around so Emily could see it. “I’m a grad student in literature. Working on my thesis, actually.”

Emily peered at the panel. “On stories?”

“On the importance of stories, yes. Though I think it might sound like nothing compared to, what was it? Physics?”

“Quantum physics.” Really it was quantum mechanics, and Emily’s specialization was quantum entanglement, but that was a mouthful and Emily had been taught not to overwhelm people with information.

Jen smiled. “Quantum physics.”

“It doesn’t sound like nothing.” Emily paused again. It was uncharacteristic of her to be this halting, but it was hard to concentrate. “Stories are important.”

“Yes,” Jen said dryly, but her smile held no trace of condescension. “I’ve got a presentation in a month if you’re interested. I don’t want to talk your ear off.”

“You can talk my ear off,” Emily blurted out again. “I mean… because I don’t get to do a lot with stories in my field. There isn’t much room for purely creative work. And I didn’t grow up with a lot of stories, so it’s interesting to see how others view the role of parables.”

“Well then,” Jen said, her eyes alight. “That isn’t exactly what my thesis is on, but you’re free to come to the presentation. Consider this a formal invite, Dr. Gao.”

Emily found she couldn’t breathe. “How - “

“I do sometimes read the email blasts the university sends out. There’s a not-so-flattering picture they like to use any time you win a grant or write a big paper.” Jen slipped her pen into a large shoulderbag on the floor, then closed her notebook and stood. She dismissed her panels with a wave of her hand.

“It’s the one of me in the lab, isn’t it?” Jen was right about how unflattering that picture was. The photographer was trying for studious, but wound up with a bad angle, a frown, and a double chin. Emily felt like she had to be forgiving on account of his being a student.

“Yeah. You should get a headshot instead. I almost didn’t recognize you, but you gave me enough clues to put it together. You’re pretty...different in person.” Jen shouldered her bag. "I’m sorry, I’ve gotta run, but it was nice to meet you, Dr. Gao.” She smiled yet again, extra sparkly.

That thing was a weapon, and an effective one. Emily cleared her throat. “Please, just Emily. Other people call me Dr. Gao so much I sometimes forget my first name.”

“Okay, just Emily. It was nice to meet you!” Jen began moving, breaking into a brisk walk.

“You too!” Emily called after her retreating back. The smile Jen threw over her shoulder pinned Emily straight through the chest.

She sat down in Jen’s chair, knees shaky, and exhaled.

**Author's Note:**

> Trying to get back on the horse with a relaxing and pressure-free short (pressure-free, ha! Should have named this 1 Bar). I always wanted to write happier times for Em and Jen.
> 
> No one messes with time in narrative the way I mess with time in narrative! One day I'll write from the actual beginning instead of the middle, which segues to the beginning.


End file.
